Annie:
Welcome to The Whole Assistant Podcast. I'm your host, Annie Croner. I'm a former assistant who's passionate about our profession, and I'm also a certified coach who's invested in your success. You've come to the right place if you want to know what it looks like to stand in your power and achieve success as an assistant free from overwhelm and burnout. Now, onto today's episode. Welcome to the last episode of October 2024. If you are listening to this episode as it comes out in real time, I just want to say, happy Halloween. I love this day.
Annie:
My boys and I are going to dress up for Halloween. I'm not a big dress up for Halloween type person, or I wasn't until I had my boys and I kind of take their lead. So last year, they were dragons, because what the oldest one wants to do, the younger one wants to do. So I got a sweatshirt that said Mother of Dragons. So not Daenerys Targaryen. Exactly. But definitely a play to it. And then this year, my boys are going as firefighters, and I am going as fire.
Annie:
So I've got a boa that's red and orange and yellow. I've got leggings that have flames going up them. I am very excited for Halloween this year. Okay, we're going to get down to business. Today we are talking about how to have your best annual review. So I know that for a lot of us, annual reviews are a box you check, but annual reviews matter, and they matter for a few reasons. It's perhaps the only conversation you'll have all year that revolves around you. Right.
Annie:
And I think that we are just so into our work that we forget this. And this is a conversation that is meant to showcase you and your contribution. So I really want you to take your annual review seriously. And I think it's really important that as executive assistants, we own this conversation. So I really want you to take an active stance. And I get the whole idea of, especially if you're doing a good job in your role and you've been established in your role for a while, it's like, yeah, yeah, it's annual review time. I know I'm gonna get, like, lots of accolades. I know my boss is gonna tell me, good job.
Annie:
I know there are probably a couple rooms. Places where I have room for improvement, but I know overall it's going to be good. And so we tend to take a passive stance, but I don't think that's the best way to go. I think really being able to Articulate your value proposition is a great exercise, and the annual review is a great time to do that. So I really want you to take your annual review seriously, to own this conversation, to drive this conversation forward, instead of being passive and letting your executive or the person who oversees you in your work, maybe it's another executive assistant or somebody in HR or chief of staff or whoever, whoever oversees your annual review. Instead of taking a passive stance on it, I really want you to take an active one, and I want you to own the conversation. I want you to be the one driving the conversation forward, and I want you to be the one articulating your value proposition. And the first kind of strategy I have to share with you guys on how to do this is to come prepared with a document outlining your value proposition or maybe even slides.
Annie:
I don't know. I love the idea of format. We're going to get to that in a minute. But your value proposition should consist of your standard operating procedures, like everything you do and how you do it. Oftentimes, our executives are unaware of all that we manage for them. And so actually bringing our SOPs, actually having that printed out, actually laying it down in front of them and being like, this is all I manage is going to be super valuable. I walk my clients all the time through the process of outlining their SOPs. And I know that it can be really challenging when you've got calendar management as one line item.
Annie:
And calendar management literally takes two to three hours of your day every day. Right. So really articulating what that looks like, the calendar management piece looks like all the back and forth, all of the negotiation and all of those things, and really outlining even calendar management as a piece of your value proposition will go a long way in your annual review. And I just feel like it's a good thing for us to know how to do anyway. Also to be included in whatever you present to your executive. Projects and tasks not included in your job description are something that I would definitely highlight. So really getting clear on what your job description is and how it evolves and change changes over time. So the great thing about actually following this process for your annual review is that if you do this year after year, you will actually be able to point out the differences year over year of all that you've taken on and how your role has evolved and changed with time.
Annie:
Maybe management changes or shifts you've taken on maybe more responsibility or you've taken on projects that have been outside your normal purview. We want to capture all of that information and include it in this value proposition document that we're going to present to our executives. Also, key accomplishments. If there was a meeting that you prepared for that was really huge, maybe an event that you prepared for that was really huge, maybe you took on planning a Christmas party or a holiday party or someone's retirement party, those sort of things. Also, if you implemented any new systems in your office or for your executive or in your executive's office, all of those would go under your key accomplishments. Process improvement. If you've improved any processes, anything like that. I also like to include financial savings.
Annie:
My last year working for my executive, I think I charted like $7,000 in savings for between him and the company. So actually highlighting those as a part of your value proposition is huge. Huge. You actually saved the company or your executive money. And that also needs to be highlighted. And now we're going to talk about format for just a minute. I love the idea of potentially creating a portfolio for yourself and having it be really graphic. So getting in canva and, you know, as much as you can articulate the data and break it down in a really cool visual way, that will go a long way in you being able to articulate your value proposition.
Annie:
I also love this because when we think about our value proposition and a list of things, that's great. That was always been what I presented to my executive. But I recently had a situation where I was interviewing someone and this person came with slides. They came with slides of their key accomplishments in their role of awards they'd won, of the years of service they had served their executive, of all the value that they brought. And it was really, really impactful. So maybe you just want to create slides, right? Whatever you've got to do to make it super engaging. But I would definitely consider the format. I think also when we consider the format, this can help us articulate our value proposition even better.
Annie:
How can you share your story visually? Just something to consider. I never did it. Like I said before, I always came with a document of everything that I had accomplished. I rewrote my job description year after year. So I literally set that down in front of my executive as well be pages and pages worth of documents. But if you can actually do that in a visual way, I think that was very, very cool. I really appreciated seeing those slides. Okay.
Annie:
You also want to include your goals. Now, I know that most of us do an eye roll when we talk about goals as executive assistants because we're like, I want to still continue to kick butt and take numbers. I Still want to embrace my badassery and manage my executive's calendar well and do all these other things and functions well. Great. That's awesome. But this too is not another box for you to check. Okay. I really want you to consider your goals and I really want you to consider your goals from the vantage point of an area of business that interests you.
Annie:
Of course, if you've got some holes in your skill set or whatnot, and you know what goals would be helpful for you moving forward, that's great in your role. But if you're getting stuck, a great place to start is with your desire. What interests you? For example, do you want to be an amazing networker? How can you improve those skills? Can you take a course on networking? Can you really put yourself out there in new and interesting ways and get involved with networking groups? Maybe finance? Maybe you take a finance course and learn how to read a P and L and a balance sheet. I did this one year for my goal because I knew it would really help my executive if I was able to read a balance sheet and it would fill in my gaps as well. I also just wanted to know as a life skill, how to read a P and L and a balance sheet and what the basis for those documents are. Also, project management is another thing you may consider. I also took a project management certification through Cornell University and it was several courses and I learned a lot. But project management can be another area and I did all of that because I really wanted to first of all have a framework.
Annie:
At the time, my executive was very detail oriented and he was very structured in his thinking. So I felt like if I had a structure around those things, that would really help me show up more strategically for him and also like only grow and expand my knowledge and my skillset and then also consider how you can support your executive's goals as well. Are you holding consistent strategic planning sessions with your executive? Do you want to hold consistent strategic planning sessions with your executive? So I'm a big fan of holding these strategic planning sessions. These sessions are not your weekly check in, but they are set aside on your executive's calendar, on your calendar as strategy time. And even if you have to go off site, go to go grab lunch somewhere or do something that will allow your executive to focus better. These sessions can be hugely, hugely helpful and strategically aligning with your executive and their goals. And I also have a strategic planning session guide on how to actually plan your strategic planning session with your executive. From Soup to nuts.
Annie:
Really it's really extensive guide. I include include questions in there that you can ask and you can of course add to and take away from that list. But it's a very, very helpful guide in getting you started in holding these consistent strategic planning sessions with your executive. And I believe I linked to it down in the show notes below. So please sign up and get that guide. And also know that I also include other strategies via email on how to strategically align with your executive when you sign up for the guide. So that's something to consider as a goal for you for this upcoming year or season. Another one is are there processing processes in your workflows that can be improved? So just be thinking about your standard operating procedures and look at your workflows and see how they can potentially be improved.
Annie:
And then last but not least, I do think that it's very helpful to come with questions to ask your executive like are bound your performance around how they feel that the relationship is going between you guys, around where they see themselves in the future. So you can kind of have a mini strategic planning session. I don't want to make the focus of the of this annual review that though I want to make the focus of the annual review you because it is so, so rare. But it never can hurt to ask how they feel the state of the union is. Okay. So that is what I have for you guys today. Let's not be passive with our annual reviews. Let's take an active role when it comes to our annual reviews and really, really own them.
Annie:
This is a unique thing. This is the only time of year where we get to highlight our unique value proposition and it is a great exercise to prepare for these and it is a great exercise to execute on them. So that is what I have for you guys today. I hope you find it helpful. Please tune in next week where I will share how to ask for a salary bump or raise, which is another thing that I would encourage you to consider for your annual review too. What type of money do you want to make for this upcoming year? What type of salary bump would you like to ask for? And I'm going to share how to ask for it in the next episode. So I hope you found this episode helpful. Be intentional.
Annie:
Be whole. That is all for now. I help assistants apply the concepts I share on this podcast. If you're ready to take your growth deeper and you're curious whether working with me in a coaching capacity is right for you, please email me at [email protected] to schedule your complimentary discovery call.
